


The Result Uncertain

by xslytherclawx



Series: ô saisons, ô châteaux (ravenclaw au) [13]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Friendship, Gay Male Character, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-26
Updated: 2019-08-26
Packaged: 2020-09-25 00:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20367346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xslytherclawx/pseuds/xslytherclawx
Summary: The summer after fourth year, Max meets up with James Potter. Surely together, they can come up with a decent plan to help their friends.





	The Result Uncertain

**Author's Note:**

> _Whoever you are holding me now in hand,_  
_Without one thing all will be useless,_  
_I give you fair warning before you attempt me further,_  
_I am not what you supposed, but far different._  

> 
>   
_Who is he that would become my follower?_   
_Who would sign himself a candidate for my affections?_   

> 
>   
_The way is suspicious, the result uncertain, perhaps destructive,_   
_You would have to give up all else, I alone would expect to be your sole and exclusive standard,_   
_Your novitiate would even then be long and exhausting,_   
_The whole past theory of your life and all conformity to the lives around you would have to be abandon'd,_   
_Therefore release me now before troubling yourself any further, let go your hand from my shoulders,_   
_Put me down and depart on your way._   

> 
> \- Walt Whitman, from "Calamus" (1860)
> 
> * * *
> 
> Fifth year is here! (sort of)  
Though this bit takes place about a week after the end of La Plus parfaite indifférence, it fits in better with fifth year, which is coming properly next week!

When Max arrived at the solitary café in the little Muggle village, he was relieved to see James Potter already sitting at a table outside. It wasn’t as if he expected James _ not _ to show; James might be an arse, but Max knew he cared about Sirius as much as Max cared about Reg. Probably. 

But he _ had _ expected James to be late, and he detested being early and waiting around for the other person. And now, as it turned out, he needn’t have worried. Though, really, the difficult bit lay ahead.

He sat down across from James with a polite greeting, and, really, it was funny how James Potter did _ nothing _ for him now. He’d been properly mad for him when they were younger, and now – nothing at all. 

“Why exactly did you want to meet me?” James asked without much ado.

Max wasn't surprised at James’s confusion. He didn't think they'd properly spoken since starting school. James hadn’t even come to his bar mitzvah (not that Max had really wanted him there). “Our best friends happen to be brothers, and… to be perfectly honest, I think they need our help.”

James pursed his lips. “I think you're right,” he said.

Max expected that, really. Gryffindors as a whole, even the obnoxious and showy ones, like James Potter, tended to jump at the opportunity to help their friends. “Good,” he said.

“But what can we do about it? If you haven't noticed, the Blacks aren't exactly the kind of family you can just fuck over.” He sulked in his chair.

“We need to come up with a plan,” Max said. “Because… you know their parents are trying to get them married?”

James winced. “Yeah, Sirius mentioned. I don't think he'll go through with it, though.”

“Reg might.”

“Regulus is gay, too, though,” James said, as offhand as if he were commenting that the day was slightly cloudy. 

“_What_?” James Potter barely even knew Reg; why would he think that? It had taken Max _ years _ of close, personal friendship to come to that conclusion, and, really, he’d thought he was being ridiculous at first.

James shrugged. “I mean, Sirius said Regulus hasn't _ said it_, but… come on. It's obvious.”

Max wasn't sure that James had ever spoken two words to Reg. Regardless, Reg _ certainly _ wasn’t out.

“It's not as if I take issue with it,” James said. “We all know Sirius is gay. You're gay. It's fine. But I think it's probably worse to force a gay kid to marry a witch than a straight one.”

Max thought it couldn’t be easy for straight kids, either, to marry someone they didn’t want to. And there was always a chance, really, that Reg wasn’t gay – that he could very well _ want _ to marry a witch. Max highly doubted it, but still.

“Regardless,” Max said, “Reg hasn’t written, and _ every _ summer until this one, we’d write almost daily. I doubt he’s even being allowed outside of the house, after everything last year. If he’s having such a bad time, I can only imagine Sirius is having it worse.”

James pressed his lips into a thin line. “We have two-way mirrors. It’s bad. Probably worse than either of us think, because the fact that Sirius is even _ talking _ about it means it’s worse than it’s been. But what are we supposed to do? We’re not of age, what, are we going to scale the walls of their Unplottable house and break in to rescue them?”

“No,” Max said, “that would just get us all killed.”

“We could,” James said, “do a fly-in by night, maybe use polyjuice to look like their cousin Narcissa has just stopped by to take them out to Diagon Alley.”

“Or,” Max said, “we could get our parents together and explain the situation to them. See what they can do to help.”

“That sounds dangerous,” James said. “If we use polyjuice… or we could just kidnap them when they go to go home next summer. Sirius will be of age, but…”

“You really think that telling our parents is more dangerous than breaking the law and trying to outright _ kidnap them_?” 

“Okay,” James said. “Say we talk to our parents and they agree to help… what can they do? We know what their family is like. Our parents might have status and money, but… not like them.”

“They might be able to avoid more serious retribution, though. And their help likely wouldn’t get us expelled from Hogwarts.”

“Touché,” James said. “I suppose Mum wouldn’t like it if I got expelled.”

They came up with a plan on what to tell their parents, and a time and place to get them all together, but Max was still worried. Isaac was on holiday, and, really, times like these, Isaac was the only one who knew just want to say to calm him down. 

There was so much that could go wrong, even if their parents agreed to help (and Max rather thought they would).

* * *

Two days later, Max went with his parents to the Potters’ manor. He knew that there was no knowing how this discussion would end, but… he had to try. For Reg’s sake.

He had a plan, but then James Potter went and shattered it by having invited Remus Lupin to Floo in. Max liked Remus, really. He was the only one of James and Sirius’s little group who Max actually _ did _ like, but in principle, he’d never liked being outnumbered by Gryffindors. He wasn’t Isaac; he didn’t have anything really _ against _ Gryffindors, in general, but, really, in large numbers, it often meant that something fantastically thoughtless was about to happen.

“So,” James said, once everyone was settled in in the parlour. “I think we all know that Sirius and Regulus have shite parents, to put it lightly.”

To Max’s absolute surprise, Euphemia and Fleamont Potter nodded eagerly in agreement. Just what did they know? Max glanced at his own parents, who looked serious and concerned, as they had since Max had told them about this.

“Max, here, says Regulus hasn’t written him all summer, and we _ all _ know that they’re madly in love with each other and inseparable nine months of the year.”

“We are not _ in love with each other_!” Max squawked. This had been a _ terrible _ idea! “We’re _ best friends_.” Sure, he was in love with Reg, and Reg was probably gay, too, but – Reg didn’t feel the same way. He was certain of it.

“Whatever,” James said. “The point is, Sirius has barely contacted me all summer, either, and when he has… it hasn’t looked good.”

“We all think,” Remus Lupin began, “that it would be best for both of them to get out of that house.”

“Reg told me his parents were trying to marry him off to some pureblood witch from the continent,” Max said, though he’d already told his parents about this shortly after he’d found out.

“And he’s soft enough to go along with it,” James added.

“James, can you _ please _ stop insulting my best friend?”

“He talks that way about everyone,” Remus said. “It’s nothing personal.”

“Even if he’s soft,” James said, “no one deserves that. And Sirius will be seventeen in a few months… but Regulus has two years.”

“And even a few months is too long,” Remus said. 

“Exactly,” James said.

“Max,” Max’s mother began, “you’re sure that the situation is that bad?”

Max looked to James and Lupin and back to his mother and nodded. “I don’t think it’s as bad for Reg as it is for Sirius, but… you heard, summer before second year, that their mother was opening their mail even then. And – everything with Passover earlier this year.”

“That’s why Sirius and I got the mirrors,” James added. “Sirius’s mum opening his mail.”

“Reg doesn’t like going home,” Max said. “And I know he does… almost everything they ask. But that can’t work forever. If Isaac were here – I wasn’t aware we were inviting _ friends_,” he added with a quick glare to James, who shrugged, “he’d agree, absolutely.”

“And we know,” James said, “we all know exactly who their parents are and what they could do. They’re biding their time until they’re of age and can run away like their cousin Andromeda… but we can’t stand by idly and let them… live like that.”

“There are some things Reg does, and I’m sure that Sirius does, too, that… make me and Isaac stop sometimes. Weird things.”

“Like what?” Max’s mother asked. He had her full attention now, and he couldn’t help but think about that case that had almost got her fired, before she’d met his father.

“He’s jumpy,” James said, before Max could say anything.

“He told me once…” Max said, and then trailed off, unsure if he could continue, but his parents and the Potters seemed encouraging, and James actually didn’t look ready to cut him off, so he continued, “that there were no gay purebloods, because they have to get married to pureblood witches to continue the family line. And I don’t know if Reg is gay…”

“Come off it,” James said, “he _ obviously _ is.”

“But _ Sirius _ is, and if he doesn’t go along with it…”

“And regardless,” Remus said, “Regulus is a kid. He shouldn’t feel like he has to marry someone out of obligation. That should be his choice to make for himself.”

“And there’s been other stuff,” Max said, “he almost had – a panic attack last September because Sirius got into a shouting match in the Great Hall, and he said he’s – had them at home, before. And I’m sure there’s been stuff with Sirius, too.”

“And more they’re not telling us,” James said. “They both think we don’t notice, just because we don’t address it.”

“They don’t want to admit what it is,” Max said. “I don’t know for sure about Sirius… but when Isaac or I talk about our families… Reg gets really quiet. Or when he does talk about it – he gets really, like, visibly anxious if we express any kind of concern. Like, it’s got to the point where Isaac and I have to pretend everything he says about his parents is _ normal, _ even though it’s properly terrifying half the time, and still deeply concerning the rest of the time, because if we _ show _ him we’re worried about him, he’ll freak out.”

“Sirius just talks about how awful his parents are,” James said.

“The fact of the matter is,” Remus said, “and I don’t mind being the one to say it, at that. Our best friends are living in an abusive household and we need to get them out.”

“It’s not that we don’t believe you,” Mr. Potter said.

“Because we do, and I’m sure we all agree that those boys need help,” Max’s dad said.

“But the Blacks…” Mr. Potter said. “They _ might _ be fine with losing Sirius… but I hardly think they’d take Regulus leaving sitting down.”

“Then tell Dumbledore!” James said. “Mr. Scamander, you know him! You can ask!”

“While I’d love nothing more than to help your friends… I hardly think that Dumbledore would be willing to get involved in what appears to be a domestic dispute. He can be… peculiar about such things. And I agree, of course, that Regulus and Sirius need help, but I’ve not seen anything from Dumbledore that would convince me that he’d be the one to do it.”

“Although…” Max’s mother began, beginnings of a plan in her mind, and Max had to wonder if his mother would have been a Slytherin, had she gone to Hogwarts. It really wouldn’t terribly surprise him. “I suppose if the boys were to run away… we could claim to have no prior knowledge of any plan. And I’m sure Fleamont and Euphemia would be more than happy to take them in.”

“So,” James said. “We tell them to run away? And get here?”

“That seems dangerous,” Max said.

“Not quite,” Max’s mum said. “It would only _ look _ as if they were running away. James, you said you’ve untraceable means to speak with Sirius?”

“The mirrors, yeah.”

“If we find a secure place for them to go,” Fleamont said, “somewhere in London they could use to Floo here…”

“Isaac’s parents would help, I think,” Max said. “They don’t live too far from Reg and Sirius, and… Isaac knows as well as any of us that they need help. And Isaac’s our friend, so it’d seem less strange than if they went to Jacob…”

“We’d have to put up wards, of course,” Euphemia said. “Nothing too extreme, I don’t think… and we could certainly _ allow _ the boys to petition the Ministry… we couldn’t _ stop _ them…”

“They’d likely be blasted off that family tree the second they left,” Fleamont said. “Once we were sure of that…”

“We could ask Regulus’s cousin,” Max said. “Narcissa. She’s… probably the only person there besides Sirius who cares about him.”

James scowled. “Narcissa _ Malfoy_? Unlikely.”

“First year,” Max said, “Narcissa was the reason Reg didn’t get a Howler. She wrote his parents and told them all about the great witches and wizards to come from Ravenclaw. And I know they’ve stayed in touch. It’s… worth trying.”

“I don’t like it,” James said. “It’s too risky.”

“We could try after they leave, just to be sure,” Max said.

“We can determine how to go about that when we get there,” Fleamont said. “In the meantime… James, why don’t you try getting hold of Sirius now? Make sure he’s willing to take the risk… and that Regulus is willing to go with him.”

James nodded and went upstairs for his mirror.

Max’s parents stood and hugged him. “You did good,” his mum said. “We’re very proud of you.”

“You absolutely take after your mother,” his father said.

He loved his parents, really, but more than anything, he wanted Regulus to be safe. Maybe that meant he did take after his parents. He didn’t know.

“Oi! Scamander! Come here!” James called. “Sirius wants to talk to you!”

**Author's Note:**

> come visit me on [tumblr](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/) | [character guide](https://xslytherclawx.tumblr.com/chars)
> 
> * * *
> 
> the survey is now closed, and thanks so much to everyone who participated!  
Please feel free to join my [discord server](https://discord.gg/yb6bS3c)! It’s a general Harry Potter server, but I also thought it’d be nice to have a place to discuss Ravenclaw AU with y’all as well!


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